Bocuse d'Or USA

Bocuse d’Or usa i n s p i r i n g

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Co n t e n ts 4 Daniel Boulud on Bocuse d’Or in America

10 Bocuse d’Or USA Culinary Council Plus: Chefs’ Spotlight

5 Kitchen Conversation Plus: The Ten Commandments of a Chef 7 A Beaujolais Revival 9 Nose to Tail

12 Chef’s Garden 14 Recipes 17 Game On 18 What to Eat in Lyon 21 Drawing Inspiration 21 Events

Chefs Paul Bocuse and Daniel Boulud at Epcot International Food and Wine Festival for 2009 national selections.

Bocuse d’Or france

u.s.a.

In 1987, France’s legendary Chef Paul Bocuse created the Bocuse d’Or World Cuisine Contest to broaden the public’s understanding of the extraordinary dedication, hard work, practice, and precision required to execute the finest cuisine.

Held every two years in Lyon, France, the Bocuse d’Or today is the world’s most rigorous culinary competition, a spectacle that combines the intensity and pressure of crafting three-star cuisine with the raucous atmosphere of soccer’s World Cup.

For the last 20 years, the United States has participated at the Bocuse d’Or World Cuisine Contest but has never reached the winners’ podium. In 2008, Paul Bocuse asked two of the most respected chefs in America, Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller, to develop a structure to provide more support for the United States team, particularly for the training period leading up to the global competition. Together with U.S.–based Jerome Bocuse, son of Paul Bocuse, the three formed the Board of Directors of what is now the Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation.

Twenty-four countries are selected to compete, and each country’s team comprises one chef and one commis assistant.

The teams are required to prepare two protein platters—one of seafood, one of meat—accompanied by three elaborate garnishes, cooked in just five and a half hours in front of a thunderous live audience and a jury of top chefs from around the world.

For more information about the Bocuse d’Or USA and how to support the Foundation, please visit www. Bocusedorusa.org.

The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit culinary organization devoted to inspiring culinary excellence within young professionals and preserving the traditions and quality of classic cuisine in America. The Foundation helps support the country’s most promising young professionals who are interested in competing and representing the United States in the prestigious Bocuse d’Or competition, and is equally dedicated to making the careers of serious young chefs more meaningful and successful by offering educational scholarships, internships, and access to a Culinary Council of established professionals.

The Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation’s fundraising program includes destination weekends of special events in the hometowns of each of the Foundation’s board members.

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Da n i e l

B o ulud

ON BOCUSE D ’ OR IN AMERICA : SETTING LASTING E X P ECTATIONS

Tom Allan, Paul Bocuse, Daniel Boulud, and James Kent at the Bocuse d’Or Europe selections in Geneva, June 2010.

I am very proud to be French, and especially proud to be from Lyon—where in 1987, Paul Bocuse started the Bocuse d’Or, the international culinary competition among the world’s greatest chefs. I have such enormous respect for Paul. Through the Bocuse d’Or, he has succeeded in taking my native city, one that is near and dear to the culinary hearts of all French people, and sharing it with the world. The funny thing is, up until three years ago, no one in the United States paid much attention to the competition. That’s when Paul asked me to be the President d’Honneur for the Bocuse d’Or in Lyon. It means that I have a seat next to him in the organization—my job is to represent the body of judges that choose a winner from among 24 countries.

I had another reason for accepting a key role in the Bocuse d’Or. When Gavin Kaysen—a Bocuse d’Or candidate four years ago who was then a chef at El Bizcocho in San Diego— talked with me about his experience, I was struck by how little support was available to him. He showed me his preparations and posters, demonstrated his dishes, and explained his goals.

He was completely on his own, with no financial support or advisory group to guide him—and all the while, he continued to maintain his job as executive chef. Shortly after becoming President d’Honneur, I decided to create an advisory board with Thomas Keller and Paul’s son, Jerome Bocuse—and that was the beginning of the Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation. From that point on, I knew we could begin to make a statement about American chefs and their cuisine on the world stage.

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The first thing we did was make the Bocuse d’Or USA a nonprofit organization to establish a lasting structure, a system that would nurture and supervise young talent for a long time to come. Then, to create awareness of the Bocuse D’Or here and build that support system, we created the Culinary Council of chefs nationwide. If you are looking for a great young American chef, where are you most likely to find him or her? The answer is obvious: from the top chefs across the country who continually bring these young chefs through their kitchens. Top chefs are the eyes and ears on the ground. Another goal of the organization is to develop a sense of national pride on the world’s culinary stage. I love the image of sitting in the bleachers in Lyon and seeing Team USA step up to the winner’s podium. How spectacular!

One of our largest and most important efforts as an organization is our scholarship program. We take enormous pride in developing talent, and we’ve launched a made-tomeasure program to do just that. Our candidates for the Bocuse d‘Or have the opportunity to learn from France’s top chefs by working in their restaurants, compliments of our scholarship program. These awards allow us to provide access to experiences that emerging chefs might never have on their own.

My goal is to build a Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation that becomes increasingly more organized and competitive—to show the world that in America, there are supremely talented chefs preparing remarkable cuisine. Through our efforts, we will no doubt get closer and closer to the gold!

K i tc h e n C o n v e r s at i o n With Daniel Boulud

My cooking philosophy revolves around three things: tradition, innovation, and perfection. And this doesn’t apply just to haute cuisine. No matter what kind of food I am making, its culinary roots are firmly planted in my native Lyon. Whether I’m choosing wine or making charcuterie or doing anything in between, it’s all about the simplicity in things, which goes back to the way food is prepared and enjoyed in Lyon.

Apart from my culinary convictions, mentoring my chefs is of most importance. Over time, we have built a well of knowledge, practice, and shared ideas. These partnerships are vital. Every season, we dip into that well of information, and consult the realities of the season too. We rethink and reinvent ingredient combinations—a good chef can’t help but want his or her food to be new, fresh, and different. A lot of that has to do with the chemistry of the moment. Some dishes that are incredible

today may not have worked so well five years ago. Cooking is about the chemistry of study, of season, and of relationships.

A chef I may have today is not the same chef he was five years ago. I travel with my chefs, and we work together on dishes.

Even if I have the final say on everything, I need to practice with my team. I never practice by myself, and I don’t think any chef will say that he or she does. It is a collaborative creative process. We all come up with ideas, provide one another with feedback, and then taste together. They make it for me, I make it for them, and we work through it. The constant exchange of creativity is floating around all the time. We really are a team.

“Of the Lyonnais passion for wine, there’s a saying: ‘Three rivers run through Lyon: the Rhône, the Saône, and the Beaujolais.’ ”

“The Ten Commandments of a Chef” FROM L E T T E R S T O A Y O U N G C H E F B Y DANIEL BOULUD P ubl i s h e d i n 2 0 0 5 by B a s i c B o o k s

1. KEEP YOUR KNIVES SHARP Your most basic tool is your knife. To cut well all of your knives must be sharp. Make sharpening a daily ritual at the very least.

2. WORK WITH THE BEST PEOPLE To become a great chef you do not need to work with twenty top chefs. You need to experience three or four very good chefs.

3. KEEP YOUR STATION ORDERLY From the storage of vegetables to the finishing of mise en place, everything needs to be marked, labeled and in the proper containers, taking up the minimum of room.

4. PURCHASE WISELY Pay attention to the price of ingredients and keep them in line with what a customer will pay for a dish. A great chef respects the culinary value of every ingredient— from truffle to turnip.

5. SEASON WITH PRECISION The taste of every ingredient is elevated by proper seasoning. There is an exact point at which ingredients are seasoned correctly.

6. MASTER THE HEAT A truly great cook has such an intimate knowledge of heat that he or she develops a sixth sense of timing for the moment of doneness.

Learn the basics of heat in the classical repertoire.

9. ACCEPT CRITICISM As a young chef, you spend your days and nights being criticized and analyzed by the chefs for whom you work.

It is important to learn from criticism.

7. LEARN THE WORLD OF FOOD Experience different cuisines whenever you can. Do it when you are young, before you are building your career.

10. KEEP A JOURNAL OF YOUR RECIPES You cannot remember everything you see cooked, or even have cooked, but with a journal, a computer, a digital camera, you can bring those taste memories to life—to guide you for the rest of your professional life.

8. KNOW THE CLASSICS No matter what cuisine you concentrate on, the classic dishes will cover the spectrum of techniques and ingredients needed to master a cuisine.

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Mentoring words from the chefs

Jean-François Bruel Executive Chef, Restaurant Daniel

Eddy Leroux Chef de Cuisine, Restaurant Daniel

I have been working with Daniel Boulud for 14 years. When I started, he had just one restaurant. Over the years, he’s opened several more, and with each he gave me opportunities and challenges. I have been everything from sous-chef to opening chef of a new restaurant, and no matter what the position, I’ve elevated my level of cooking. Collaborating with Daniel is based on teamwork. He’s an open-minded chef and a great leader, the kind who allows those around him to come up with and execute their own ideas. All of his chefs come up with ideas, run them by one another, and then cook the dishes for one another to taste. Once we’re satisfied among ourselves, we present them to Daniel and get his feedback. It’s pretty simple: if a dish is good, it goes on the menu. Daniel has accomplished so much in his life already, yet he remains humble. He is as much a friend to me as he is a boss. And the bonus? He’s turned me into a leader.

Even though I’ve worked with Daniel Boulud for eight years now, I feel like I have a lot of work to do to emulate his unique character. He is so generous in everything he does. I would love to be as spontaneous as Daniel. When things are urgent, he doesn’t think twice about jumping in to help. He does a lot for chefs in general to elevate and promote them at every level. He likes to bring young chefs in for stages at a station they would like. And when he sees a young chef with potential, he does everything he can to motivate and advance them. Executive chef Jean-François and I generate a lot of ideas for dishes that we then take to Daniel. We have been with him for so long in terms of restaurant years that we have a solid idea of what he likes—but he has the ability to tweak a wonderful dish so that it’s out of this world. There is a lot of trust among us, which is why Daniel allows us to pursue using new ingredients or suppliers where we see fit. He gives us a lot of freedom—which, to a chef, is like getting the brass ring.

Gavin Kaysen Executive Chef, Café Boulud

Gregory Stawowy Executive Sous-Chef, Restaurant Daniel

Humility, hospitality, and raw passion. These are the three personal traits I admire most in my incredible mentor, Daniel Boulud. Passion is a word that gets tossed around a lot, but Daniel really has it. There’s nothing fake about him or his vision. His restaurants, the charitable organizations he supports, the way he greets customers he’s meeting for the first time— his approach is the same no matter the enterprise or situation. Daniel’s humility is legendary. We can prepare a dish 1,500 times and all it takes is one guest to tell us they’re not happy with it for us to change it. Just one detractor and we reevaluate! Daniel is so humble, driven, and passionate, it’s contagious. It’s a privilege to be a part of his team.

To work with a chef like Daniel Boulud—to have the chance to hear his ideas and share his vision—is a dream come true for any chef. But, for me, it is particularly thrilling. Before I joined Daniel six years ago, I worked for Alain Ducasse and Pierre Gagnaire. I knew from the moment I stepped into Daniel’s kitchen that I was at home. I loved that I was working in an environment where tradition is the primary focus. It was reassuring to find that the traditional kitchen is still important. I have been able to hone my skills at Restaurant Daniel and have thoroughly enjoyed working with ingredients that were not common to European kitchens, where I had spent most of my culinary life prior to joining the team. My boss has created such a spectacular learning environment that I am continuously amazed by the possibilities every ingredient brings to the plate. When we are creating the menu at the restaurant, Daniel is always there to taste the new dishes. He is so knowledgeable that he can easily point out the tiniest thing that will transform the way a dish looks or tastes. He is so generous and is always happy to advance his chefs.

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A Beaujolais Revival Beaujolais winemaker Jean-Paul Brun is among a growing number of vintners who live by a simple credo: quality, not quantity

On his family’s 40-acre estate in Charnay, a village in the southern Beaujolais, just north of Lyon, Jean-Paul Brun is working to return Beaujolais to what “it once was and as it should be”—that is, wine renown for its delightful fruit and delicate “old style.” To restore authenticity, Brun and his compatriots are literally going back to their roots. “The work that a true winemaker must do starts with the terroir,” says Brun.

“We need to return to natural methods of working the soil.”

crus, because their quality is improving,” explains Brun. “At the same time, tastes are evolving away from rich, heavy varietals such as merlot, grenache, and cabernet sauvignon and toward softer, more delicate wines. Plus, the crus have less alcohol and are easier to pair with foods.”

Brun notes that there are as many differences among the crus as there are appellations in Burgundy. As for the value, he believes that wines coming now from Beaujolais are well worth the money.

By using indigenous yeasts of the light and fruity gamay grapes, rather than industrial versions, the charm of the fruit is better expressed and the wine takes on its own personality. Brun and his colleagues are also heavily investing in organic and biodynamic practices, harvesting lower yields, and using a cold maceration process to bring back Beaujolais crus.

“We had an exceptional 2009, and before that 2005 and 2003 were major milestones. Each vintage featured great qualities: the wine opens up quickly; they are well balanced but still have some acidity; they express themselves early but age well,” Brun says. “The 2010 vintage is showing great potential with excellent color and fruit. It just confirms a continuity in quality in the region.”

And wine lovers seem to be noticing. “Not only is the world’s taste for Beaujolais nouveau waning, but there is also renewed interest in our

Now Pouring with michael madrigale

collectors. My goal is to democratize the enjoyment of such hard-to-get wine. I plan what I’m going to offer one week in advance and on the day I’m going to serve a particular bottle, I take a picture of it and post it on my Twitter account. Right now, I have 1,700 followers!

A little more than a year ago, I bid on my first big bottle, a 1991 Montrachet from Olivier Lefleve. No one else bid on it. Here was one of the best white wines in the world and I was the only person raising a paddle. Needless to say, I got it for the lowest price possible, which cultivated my interest in big bottles. I offered it by the glass at Bar Boulud and it sold out in an hour and a half. That was the beginning of the Big Bottle Program, in which I open a big bottle—a magnum (8 glasses), a jeroboam (16 glasses), or a six-liter (32 glasses)—every night at Bar Boulud for all to enjoy.

To keep an inventory of big bottles, I tirelessly search through importers, auctions, and private collections. The idea is to share these very special wines with people who may not necessarily have the opportunity to enjoy them on their own. Typically, big bottles are in the hands of wealthy

Needless to say, big bottles have become a major part of my wine program. We sell out every single night. And it’s not surprising: wine from big bottles tastes better. Because the bottle’s opening is the same size as that of a regular bottle, there’s a lower oxygen-to-wine ratio when the bottle is open—the wine is better preserved, ages much more slowly, and remains fresher longer.

I have a deep love of Beaujolais and open big bottles of it often because I believe the region doesn’t get the respect it deserves. It’s my way of helping to change customers’ perceptions of this much-maligned wine.

One of my favorite vintners in the area is Marcel Lapierre, who recently passed away. I also admire Jean-Paul Brun. Brun has done some special bottlings for Restaurant Daniel, which is not always easy to do as a small grower. When winemakers like Brun are happy to participate in the Big Bottle Program, I know I’m on to something, and it makes the search that much more exciting.

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These are three foods I love—my trifecta, if you will: ham, pâté de grand-mère, and torte with duck, foie gras, and figs. I eat ham every day. The torte is a more refined dish, and the pâté is rustic: a pâté de campagne. It’s made from chicken livers, which makes it more flavorful and creamy—and less fatty—than standard versions. We put a little pepper on it to spice it up. Daniel loves it this way too. —Gilles Verot

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charcuterie by gilles verot

In 2005, a friend in Paris insisted that we meet this French chef who was making his mark in the United States. When we learned that Daniel Boulud wanted to do charcuterie in New York , we were excited by the prospect but, honestly, a little skeptical about how Americans would perceive French-style charcuterie.

I invited Daniel Boulud to Paris, and it was a coup de foudre. We presented our product to him in a very casual, simple way, not realizing that he was approaching celebrity status in the United States. Our spontaneous approach was refreshing to him. He liked that we were young and shared an etat d’esprit. After a trip to visit his New York restaurants, I knew we had to find a way to work together.

If my life in charcuterie up to that point was any indication, it was clear we would. Charcuterie is in my blood: both my grandfather and my parents were charcutiers in Saint-Étienne, and I spent a lot of time in the family store, watching the artisans make their products. At 17, I apprenticed at Reynon, the most renowned charcutiers in Lyon. I went on to study in Paris, where I not only worked for various charcutiers but also met my wife, who is too from a family of charcutiers. We worked together for our family businesses until 1997, when we bought our own store in the 6th arrondissement. It was small, but we quickly made a name for ourselves.

We seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Not only was there a lot of foot traffic in this rather bourgeois neighborhood, but our clientele was thrilled to have really good, simple charcuterie available to them at a time when many of our fellow charcutiers were moving away from the traditional craft toward catering events, dinners, and receptions. Around the same time, I also won several competitions—in particular the 1997 Champion de France de Fromage de Tête. This highly valued prize put us on the culinary world map. We were also

selected as best charcuterie in Paris by several guidebooks.

We had never been a part of the media world, and it all happened so fast we were shell-shocked, if a bit naive.

And then, Daniel. That first presentation felt so comfortable and natural that several months later I returned to New York, where we presented a dinner of 15 of our products. The event went over so well that the guests and press asked what was next. It was the confirmation that we needed to work together, but we still didn’t know to what end. Daniel knew that he wanted charcuterie to be a major part of the menu for what would become Bar Boulud. We began discussing a concept in 2006, and for the next two years I trained young charcutiers in Paris and sent them to work with Daniel. Bar Boulud opened in January 2008 with four of these charcutier, and a fifth is in training to prepare for Daniel’s newest venture, which will open next to Bar Boulud in 2011.

It’s a story that is still evolving. But I know that, as in all of our successes so far, it’s a matter of timing—and a bit of serendipity.

Gilles Verot Charcutier de Tradition 3, Rue Notre-Dame des Champs 75006 Paris 7, Rue Lecourbe 75015 Paris www.verot-charcuterie.fr

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Chefs’ Spotlight The Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation 2009–2010 Culinary Council The Culinary Council is a network of prestigious industry leaders who contribute their culinary expertise and knowledge to the Foundation in a variety of significant ways. We appreciate their commitment to inspiring culinary excellence in America.

NORTHEAST

SOUTH

Mario Batali Babbo, New York City

Scott Boswell Stella!, New Orleans

David Bouley Bouley, New York City

Emeril Lagasse Emeril’s, New Orleans

Terrance Brennan Picholine, New York City

Susan Spicer Bayona, New Orleans

David Chang Momofuku, New York City

Norman Van Aken Norman’s, Orlando

Tom Colicchio Craft, New York City

MIDWEST

Daniel Humm Eleven Madison Park, New York City Gavin Kaysen Café Boulud, New York City Gabriel Kreuther The Modern, New York City Paul Liebrandt Corton, New York City Barbara Lynch No. 9 Park, Boston Nobu Matsuhisa Nobu, New York City Jacques Pepin French Culinary Institute, New York City Eric Ripert Le Bernardin, New York City Alain Sailhac French Culinary Institute, New York City André Soltner French Culinary Institute, New York City Laurent Tourondel BLT Market, New York City

Grant Achatz Alinea, Chicago Jean Joho Everest, Chicago Charlie Trotter Charlie Trotter’s, Chicago WEST Paul Bartolotta Bartolotta, Las Vegas Julian Serrano Picasso, Las Vegas PACIFIC Michael Cimarusti Providence, Los Angeles Traci Des Jardins Jardinière, San Francisco Timothy Hollingsworth The French Laundry, Yountville DAVID KINCH Manresa, Los Gatos Walter Manzke Los Angeles Michael Mina Michael Mina, San Francisco

David Myers Jean-Georges Sona, Los Angeles Vongerichten Jean Georges, New York City Roland Passot La Folie, San Francisco MID-ATLANTIC Daniel Patterson Georges Perrier Le Bec Fin, Philadelphia Eric Ziebold CityZen, Washington, D.C.

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Coi, San Francisco Wolfgang Puck Spago, Los Angeles Alan Wong Alan Wong’s, Honolulu

bocuse d’or usa

Barbara Lynch

Paul Liebrandt

What is your advice for young chefs? It’s really important to not take shortcuts, to choose a cuisine and master it, and to realize that it takes time to become a chef.

This is a craft that requires time, dedication, passion, and hard work.

What was the most difficult task you had to undertake when you first started cooking? Being set up for service. I always wanted to be ready so that I could be the best cook and not worry about my mise en place. I worked very hard to become incredibly organized and disciplined in the kitchen. What is your favorite season for cooking? Since we are in New England, I would say fall. The farmers’ markets are full with the late-summer harvest and everything autumn has to offer, and everyone is excited to eat! Your favorite motto is . . . ? “I’m not scared.”

When I was starting out, I learned that if you want something, you can (and sometimes have to) talk yourself out of being scared. Things get hard, tense, and, yes, even scary, in this business, but we have to believe in ourselves and persevere.

What is your current state of mind?

I’m extremely at peace with who I am and what I have accomplished. I feel very ready for the next phase in life and I’m excited to start working on new projects, continue to grow the company, and help develop young talent.

What is your advice for young chefs? Learn your trade and learn it well before you become a chef.

It will stand you in good stead for the rest of your career. It takes time and patience, but it is the most important thing. What was the most difficult task you had to undertake when you first started cooking?

When I first started, pomme soufflé was a big pain! It’s not so textbook.

You have to develop a good touch and feel for it. What is your favorite season for cooking? Autumn. It’s the bridge between summer and winter, and there are some elements of both in autumn. It speaks the loudest to me. What gift from nature would you like to have? A green thumb.

Your favorite motto is . . . ? Focus: concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. Excellence is in the details. What is your current state of mind? Contemplative and thoughtful of the future.

Bocuse d’Or usa Culinary Council members took time to answer a few P r o u s t q u e s t i o n n a i r e – s t y l e q u e r i e s t o s h a r e t h e i r e xp e r i e n c e and wisdom with young chefs, and to provide us with insight into t h e i r ow n c u r r e n t s tat e o f m i n d.

Eric Ripert

Terrance Brennan

Laurent Tourondel

David Myers

What is your advice for young chefs? Make sure that you are really passionate about cooking. Your motivation shouldn’t be about becoming famous or rich. Our industry is not glamorous as much as a young person may think. It’s a very hard road. What was the most difficult task you had to undertake when you first started cooking?

Many things, but what took me the longest was having good knife skills. It is essential, and I’m glad I was patient. What is your favorite season for cooking? I love every beginning of each season, and then I get impatient and start to look toward the next one. What gift from nature would you like to have? The first black truffles of the season.

Your favorite motto is . . . ? “Look at the big picture.” What is your current state of mind? Searching to perfect everything and anything.

What is your advice for young chefs? Don’t focus on being a socalled celebrity chef. You should constantly study and learn. If you’ve never butchered, then do a stage with a butcher. If you have pastry experience, then make a point of working with a pastry chef. I would also recommend working under great chefs—that experience can be the most valuable of all. What was the most difficult task you had to undertake when you first started cooking? When I went to work at Le Cirque, it was my first experience in an intense French kitchen and I was thrown into the fire with little guidance. Everyone in the kitchen spoke French, and I didn’t. We were also in the weeds every night, so while it was an amazing experience, there were definitely some challenges.

What is your favorite season for cooking? Fall is definitely my favorite season. I love working with white truffle, wild game, mushrooms, and squashes—and slow cooking. What gift from nature would you like to have? I would love to have a musical talent, like singing or playing the guitar. Your favorite motto is . . . ?

“It’s all about the ingredients.”

What is your current state of mind?

Jubilant and focused.

What is your advice for young chefs?

Work very hard, be passionate about cooking, and follow a style of cuisine that you like to do. Don’t look at the hours that you put into it in the beginning, because it will all pay off in the end. Learn as much as you can.

What is your advice for young chefs?

Don’t rush to be the chef. Take your time and enjoy—and learn— cooking. It will be an amazing time for you. Sweat the small stuff. Seek out the best. What was the most difficult task you had to undertake when you first started cooking?

Taking time to eat. What is your favorite season for cooking? I love summer for tomatoes, corn, beans, and herbs; fall for squashes and game; winter for truffles and braising; and spring for all things green. I guess I love them all. What gift from nature would you like to have? Sunset and sunrise. Your favorite motto is . . . ?

“Make it happen.” What is your current state of mind? Calm.

What was the most difficult task you had to undertake when you first started cooking? Fighting your way up through the big brigade. I always had those guys who were on top and putting obstacles in my way.

It was always a challenge to fight back. What is your favorite season for cooking? The four seasons—I find something interesting in every season. What gift from nature would you like to have? I would love to know all of the cultures of the world to be able to cook their cuisines. Your favorite motto is . . . ?

“Don’t look back.” What is your current state of mind? I am full of energy, very productive, and taking in the energy around me to keep me going.

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C h e f ’ s

G arden

w i t h Fa r m e r L e e J o n e s

as A family farm, we know our survival is based on two things: growing the best-tasting and most flavorful products available, and having chefs like Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller, and Daniel Humm really understand the kind of quality we can deliver.

The Chef ’s Garden is located three miles inland from Lake Erie, the shallowest of all the Great Lakes and subsequently the warmest. We’re in a microclimate with tremendous growing soil that was all lake bottom about 11,000 years ago. As a result, we have soil rich with not only sand that is good for drainage, but also great deposits from the lake. Here, we say that farming starts with farming the soil. We do that naturally, without chemicals, synthetics, or any genetic modification. For us, it is about working in harmony with nature instead of trying to outsmart it. The clean agriculture concepts that we implement here were commonplace 100 years ago, so we are really returning to the essentials of farming.

Of the 300 acres we farm, only about a third is used for production; another third sits fallow, accepting the energy and nutrients for the soil to rebuild itself; and the last third is used for growing very specific components for compost. We don’t believe in using animal manure, so that means everything we grow we use to put back into the soil. We essentially grow vegan vegetables.

But the picture wasn’t always so rosy. My dad started farming in the mid 1950s, and although successful for a number of years, he ended up losing everything and we had to start over with six acres of land and a dilapidated farmhouse. That was 27 years ago. Back then at the farmers’ markets, we began to notice chefs—either from or trained in Europe—searching for heirloom vegetable varieties grown for flavor rather than quantity, which was what American agriculture was about at the time. The concept really resonated with us, so my dad

“ordered” me to get out there and talk to every chef I could to find out what they wanted us to grow.

Not long after that, we began working with Jean-Louis Palladin, who realized that in order for a small farm like us to survive, he would have to have enough other chefs supporting us. So he introduced us to Alain Ducasse and Daniel Boulud, who subsequently introduced us to Thomas Keller, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and Charlie Trotter. They were all willing to mentor us, and their vision has guided our vision ever since.

We named our farm The Chef’s Garden because we see the farm as an extension of these restaurant kitchens. With some 500 chef visits every year, there truly is a symbiotic relationship between chef and farmer. We learn from them, and what they do fuels us.

We eventually built the Culinary Vegetable Institute, a facility where chefs can come for some R & R but, more important, can use the state-of-the-art kitchen and dining room for some R & D. We harvest what we grow and let the chefs play with it.

In any given year, there are between 250 and 300 products in research and development. Some are chef requested, others we plant to explore and experiment with ourselves.

Ultimately, we are grateful to have a small place in the culinary industry. My dad always said that he wished us eternal dissatisfaction. Daniel or Thomas, or any great chef, is never satisfied—they are always back in the kitchen, ripping their plates apart, refining and reevaluating. That eternal dissatisfaction has to be at the core of everything that drives a great chef, and that drives us.

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r ecipes from chef daniel boulud

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TARTINE OF S Q U A B “ EN SA L M IS ” f r o m c a f é b o ulud Adapted from Chef Daniel Boulud: Cooking in New York City

by Daniel Boulud and Peter Kaminsky, Published in 2002 by Assouline Serves 4

ingredients 4 squabs (14 to 16 ounces each), head removed and legs, wings, necks, and backbone removed and reserved 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 1/4 cup cognac or brandy 2 cups unsalted chicken stock or store-bought low-sodium chicken broth

1 tablespoon sherry vinegar Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 shallot, peeled, trimmed, and thinly sliced

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Four slices of sourdough bread

1 pound wild mushrooms, trimmed, cleaned, and thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, peeled and halved Four 2-ounce portions fresh foie gras

Method 1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 400°F. 2. Chop the back, wing, and neck bones into small pieces. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the bones and legs and cook until golden brown. Deglaze and flambé with the cognac or brandy and cook until the liquid has evaporated. Add the chicken stock and lower the heat to a simmer; cook until the leg meat is tender, approximately 20 minutes.

Remove the legs from the pan and let cool. Season the sauce with sherry vinegar, salt, and pepper and reduce the liquid by half. Strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve. Once the legs are cool enough to handle, remove the leg meat from the bones and finely chop.

3. In a large sauté pan over high heat, warm the olive oil.

Add the mushrooms and shallots and cook until all the liquid in the pan has evaporated. Once cool, finely chop the mushroom mixture and combine with the braised leg meat. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Prepare a very hot grill. Rub the sliced sourdough bread with the cut garlic. Grill the bread on both sides to obtain a good charred flavor. While the bread is grilling, in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, cook the foie gras for 3 minutes on each side. Drain the foie gras on layers of paper towels.

6. Divide the mushroom-leg mixture evenly among the toasted sliced bread. Place a piece of foie gras on top of the mushroom mixture and place the sliced breast meat on top of the foie gras. Keep warm.

To Serve Warm the sauce, if necessary. Place the assembled bread slices in the center of four warm dinner plates.

Spoon the sauce over the squab meat and around the plate. At the Café, we serve this dish with a mâche salad tossed in truffle vinaigrette.

4. Season the squab breasts with salt and pepper.

In a large ovenproof sauté pan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Sear the breasts, skin side down, until golden brown. Flip the breasts over, place the pan in the oven, and roast for 4 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place the squab on a wire rack to rest for a few minutes. Remove the breast meat from the bones and cut the breast into thin slices. Set aside and keep warm.

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M OSAI C OF VENISON AN D FOIE G RAS f r o m r e s ta u r a n t da n i e l Black Trumpet Mushroom, Celery Root Remoulade, Roasted Beets Makes 1 Terrine (approximately 24 slices per terrine)

Special Equipment

Method

Rectangular terrine mold (16-inches long x 1.5-inches tall x 1.25-inch wide base x 1.75-inch wide top) Acetate paper

For the Mosaic: In a nonreactive container, whisk the rock salt and water until dissolved.

Add venison loin, submerge, cover, and chill for 12 hours. Remove loin from brine, rinse well in cold running water for 1 hour, and pat dry.

While venison is rinsing, in a medium saucepot, bring the consommé and juniper berries to a simmer; remove from heat and steep for 1 hour. Strain consommé, and discard berries.

In a sous vide bag, combine the venison loin with 100 ml of the consommé and seal. Heat a water bath to 62°C and add sous vide venison loin. Cook until the internal temperature of the venison reaches 56°C. Meanwhile, soak the gelatin sheets in cold water for at least 20 minutes; squeeze dry. Return the remaining 650 ml consommé to the heat and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and immediately add the gelatin, stirring until dissolved. Pour 150 ml of the liquid into a small shallow plate—it should be at least 1/2-cm deep. Chill in refrigerator to set gelatin and reserve for venison rillette (see below). Reserve remaining 500 ml consommé with gelatin at for terrine assembly.

ingredients Mosaic 1 L water 60 grams rock salt 1 venison loin 750 ml venison consommé (or substitute chicken) 5 grams toasted juniper berries 11 sheets gelatin 1 head celery root, peeled 500 grams foie gras terrine 100 grams cleaned, cooked, and minced black trumpet mushrooms Beet Gelée 2 L beet juice 3 g Xantana thickener Roasted Baby Beets 1 bunch baby red beets 1 bunch baby yellow beets Kosher salt Olive oil Salt and pepper Venison Rillette 200 grams braised and shredded venison shoulder 40 grams foie gras mousse 15 grams cooked and chopped celery root Venison consommé gelée (see Mosaic) Salt and pepper Juniper Berry Cream 5 grams juniper berries, toasted and ground 100 grams heavy cream Salt and pepper Garnish Chive oil Baby watercress Shaved candy-stripe beets

Once venison is cooked, cool at room temperature for 1 hour and then place bag on a flat baking sheet. Top with another flat baking sheet and top with a weight (to compress, which will aide in slicing later). Transfer to the refrigerator to chill. Once cool, remove venison from bag and cut into 1/4-inch wide, long rectangular strips.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and set a bowl of ice water on the side. Cut the celery root into long rectangular strips of the same size and boil until just tender; chill in ice water and pat dry. Cut the foie gras terrine into same-sized strips.

Line the terrine molds with acetate sheets.

Place terrine mold on a work surface aligned horizontally to you. Before assembling, make sure to dip ingredients in the room temperature consommé before each addition (it should be liquid consistency—heat as necessary), and spoon in consommé to level with ingredients as needed. Starting from the furthest end and working towards you, start lining the mold horizontally with the strips of ingredients in this order:

Port reduction

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BOTTOM: Celery root, foie gras, venison, celery root; thin layer of chopped mushroom—chill to set.

SECOND ROW: Foie gras, venison, celery root, foie gras; thin layer of chopped mushroom— chill to set.

THIRD ROW: Venison, celery root, foie gras, venison; thin layer of chopped mushroom— chill to set.

TOP ROW: Celery root, foie gras, venison, celery root—chill to set.

Spoon in consommé to level the terrine if needed, chill, and then fold over acetate and tuck into the terrine. Refrigerate overnight.

For the Beet Gelée: Reduce beet juice by half and strain through a fine meshed sieve into a bowl. Add Xantana and puree with a hand blender until thickened; reserve chilled.

For the Roasted Baby Beets: Preheat oven to 350°F. Toss red and yellow beets separately with olive oil, salt, and pepper to coat. Transfer to separate aluminum foil packets, place on a baking sheet, and transfer to the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, or until tender. Cool to room temperature, peel, and quarter. Season with more olive oil, salt, and ground white pepper when ready to serve.

For the Venison Rillette: In a medium bowl, combine the braised venison with the foie gras mousse and celery root. Using a paring knife, slice venison gelée (see mosaic recipe above) into a small dice, then fold the dice into the rillette. Season to taste and reserve chilled.

For the Juniper Berry Cream: Up to 1 hour before serving, whip the juniper berries with the cream to stiff peak. Season to taste and keep chilled.

For Garnish and Plating: Unmold terrine and cut two 1-cm-thick slices per portion. On a square appetizer plate, place slices on the bottom left and top right corners. Top terrine slices with a small quenelle of the juniper cream and baby watercress. Draw a line of port reduction diagonally through the center of the plate and arrange a few roasted beet quarters and shaved beets on top. Spread a small amount of beet gelée on the top left corner and top with venison rillette. Drizzle the plate with chive oil and serve cold.

Game

On

A Pass i o n fo r H u n t i n g w i t h j o e l b u c h m a n

Joel Buchman and Daniel Boulud

My friendship with Daniel Boulud began more than 15 years ago, when a mutual friend introduced us to each other. But what really cemented our relationship was the birthday gift my wife gave to me 10 years ago. She wanted to give me one cooking lesson with Daniel.

Instead, Daniel offered an open invitation, and I’ve spent time in his kitchen every other weekend for the past decade.

In addition to my passion for cooking, my other great love is hunting. I started in the Hudson Valley years ago, but the thrill has taken me all over the world, from Austria and Hungary to Africa and Wyoming. I try to learn how to cook everything I shoot, which can be a real challenge, since wild game can be remarkably inconsistent. Not only is it all lean, but one never knows what the animals have eaten; and depending on its diet, the meat can be overly gamey.

Which brings me to Daniel’s Fall Game Dinner. Realizing just how much talent it takes to prepare game, I approached Daniel with the idea of doing a special all-game meal, with terrines, pâté, and main dishes of wild boar, venison, grouse— you name it. It turned out to be a big success, and now it has taken on a life of its own. The dinner is a lot of work for the chefs, not only at Restaurant Daniel but at his other restaurants too. Virtually nothing that is served at the game dinners is ever served on the daily restaurant menus.

When I am not hunting, eating, drinking, cooking, or doing any of those other wonderful things that I enjoy doing, I am an attorney. When Paul Bocuse asked my friend to develop the Bocuse d’Or USA in a real way, Daniel asked me to help him set up the foundation. I love my role in it: I actively participate in how things are run, and I head the scholarship committee too. It’s such a wonderful way to use both my legal and culinary knowledge to promote our country’s very talented chefs.

And it just got even better. This year, for the first time, Daniel’s Fall Game Dinner will be a benefit for the Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation. In my humble opinion, with a little luck and a lot of hard work, the Bocuse d’Or USA can be the premier culinary organization in the United States. With Daniel behind it all, we will be able to promote American chefs and their food and put it on the world stage, where it should be.

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W h at

to

E at

in

Lyo n ?

And Other Urgent Questions

by Bill Buford

In a dining establishment in Lyon, you can eat pig fat fried in pig fat, a pig’s brain dressed in vinegar, a salad made with pig lard, a chicken boiled in a pig’s bladder, a pig’s digestive tract filled up like a custard with pig’s blood, cold lentils with cold nuggets of a pig’s belly, and a piggy intestine stuffed to bursting with a thick handful of piggy intestines—imagine an old-fashioned telephone cable, packed to bursting with multicolored telephone wires, split open incomprehensibly by a repairman who somehow knows where everything goes.

For these and other reasons, Lyon, for the past 76 years, has been known as the gastronomical capital of both France and the world.

The world is a big place. Two years ago, I persuaded my wife, Jessica Green, and our three-year-old twin toddlers to leave New York City with me and move to Lyon to see what was so good about the good food there. We arrived just as the city became very cold and a couple months before the Bocuse d’Or. We intended to stay six months. To our astonishment, we are still here. And we have no plans to leave.

These are some of our discoveries.

Best Lyonnais meal: Lunch. Small price, big bang: simple, never fancy, like the food you wish your mother had cooked, and so cheap that, even with wine—even with quite a lot of wine, even with a ridiculous amount of wine—you will stare at l’addition convinced that someone has made a mistake. (After a brief internal debate, you will slink off like a shoplifter.)

Best version? Anywhere; everywhere. There will be only one expensive item: the espresso, which is unfortunate because it will taste like mud.

Worst Lyonnais meal: Breakfast. Tip: If staying the night, consider packing a cup of coffee in your carry-on.

Best-value killer meal according to the classic diner’s formula (quality divided by price): Saison. This is the name of the inexplicably elegant (just how do they do it, exactly?) establishment on the ground floor of a 19th-century silk maker’s preposterous folly (towers, turrets, there must have been a moat), otherwise known as L’Institut Paul Bocuse, in Ecully, four miles from Lyon. The kitchen is run by Alain Le Cossec, 1991 Meilleur Ouvrier de France, chef, and Zen master of culinary perfection. You don’t go there to be a big-hearted soul and support students making a mess of haute cuisine.

No, a meal is not a good deed. (Besides, who would want to eat such a thing—and, what, pay for it too?) The secret: No student is allowed close enough to the food to damage it.

(How do I know? I was a student.)

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Best bouchon on a Saturday night: Café des Fédérations.

Drunken, alarmingly uninhibited, sometimes just plain alarming. What is a bouchon? Go, here, for dinner. You’ll understand everything.

Best bouchon on a Sunday night: Le Bouchon des Filles, run by two sisters and former waitresses of Café des Fédérations. They describe their place as a bouchon run by women for people who think a normal bouchon is too heavy. Me? I describe it as good.

Best bouchon anytime, anywhere: Daniel et Denise—except it’s not a bouchon. It calls itself a bouchon, but it’s a restaurant— and a good one that just happens to serve all the classic Lyonnais dishes, but done so expertly that you don’t recognize they are classic Lyonnais dishes. The chef, who is neither a Daniel, nor a Denise, but a Joseph, is another MOF (by the way, Meilleur Ouvrier de France is French for “I’m kick-*ss, you’re not; get out of my way”). Chef Joseph became a MOF in 2006, the same year that he bought Daniel et Denise from both Daniel and Denise and quit his chef’s job at the once justly famous restaurant Lyon de Lyon, where (surprise, surprise) you could eat classic Lyonnais dishes done so expertly that only a Michelin inspector could recognize them. Since Chef’ Joseph’s departure, Lyon de Lyon has been, well, downgraded.

Best small restaurant you still haven’t heard of, even though it’s kick-ass, brilliant, and you probably won’t get a reservation: Au 14 Février, in Vieux Lyon. You don’t know it. You should.

Best old-fashioned quenelle: Café Comptoir Abel. Café Comptoir Abel is neither a café nor a comptoir, but a bouchon with an excess of atmosphere so precious that even Daniel Boulud has been caught on tape coveting the place and admitting to a scheme to steal it. (The heist, since abandoned, involved a task force of nocturnal engineers charged with loosening Abel from its foundations, packing it up into a crate, and shipping it to Manhattan, whereupon New Yorkers would go wild, having discovered that French food is actually Italian food but better.)

Abel’s chef, the heroic but unheralded Alain Vigneron, is the only person still standing behind a stove who knows how to make

Bill Buford set off on a séjour in Lyon, armed with contacts and survival tips from his friend Daniel Boulud.

a quenelle as it was done 76 years ago. A quenelle is less a recipe than a clever invention that, in Alain Vigneron’s preparation, renders a bony, virtually inedible, giant Rhône Valley lake fish into a creamy soufflé-like poem irritatingly evocative of sex.

In fact, it’s not Alain Vigneron’s preparation—he “borrowed” it from Eugenie Brazier, a.k.a. Mère Brazier, the first woman chef to have gotten three Michelin stars in 1933, and a local legend. Today you still see scattered around town (on the wall of restaurants where she never worked, at the tabac, on a bus) not only her picture, but the picture: the now iconic image taken in 1935 by Blanc and Demilly—Théo Blanc and Antoine Demilly, the Lyonnais celebrity photo team (between the wars, all of haute Lyon passed before their lens)—that depicts a tough, rotund, no-nonsense woman in too-tight chef’s garb stirring a steamy, unexplained pot with such demonic intensity that you don’t want to know what’s inside. It is worth noting that the unheralded Alain Vigneron also makes the best salad Lyonnaise. I should know: I’ve eaten it 55 times.

Best postmodern quenelle: The exquisite confection lighter than the sea, marginally heavier than air, and with the texture of a cloud that was introduced to the world at 11:45 a.m. on April 3, 2010, at La Mère Brazier—the restaurant, not the person who died in 1977, by which time the place had been run for more than a decade by her son anyway, the parent and progeny having developed such a loathing for each other that she abandoned her kitchen and got out of town, opening another establishment in the countryside, thereby becoming the world’s first six-star chef. When the son died, his daughter, Jacqueline, took over: a gentle, good woman, who, unlike her father and grandmother, was well-balanced, sensible, and not a maniac, and so, in time, ended up selling the place to Mathieu Viannay, who reopened it the month my wife, the twins, and I arrived in Lyon. Viannay, a self-proclaimed neoclassicist, has since been reinventing most of Mère Brazier’s greatest recipes.

Even so, it took him 18 months to come up with a postmodern quenelle (it’s that special). Viannay became a MOF in 2004 and wears a multicolored collar, like all the other MOFs, one that commands you to stand at attention and salute him when he

passes, which is what his cooks do, waiting until Viannay can’t see them to stare openly and longingly at his MOF neckwear and admit, under their breath, that one day, they, too, will grow up to be a MOF. (Source? Me. I worked there.)

Best boulanger: Bob’s, on the Quai Saint-Vincent. Oldfashioned, prerevolutionary bread made in an old-fashioned, prerevolutionary way. Go there. Eat. You will understand why the French once put away three kilos of the stuff a day—and why a queen once said, “Let them eat Bob’s pain!”

Best place to be at dawn on a Sunday morning: The Roman amphitheater. You have no idea.

Best place to be at midnight: the Amphitheater of the Three Gauls, ancient meeting and drinking place. Early Christians were skinned alive here. Sometimes, in the early hours, you can hear them.

Two best restos of the low- to mid-price range: Le Bistrot du Potager and Le Fleurie. Le Potager is run by Franck Delhoume from Marseille, and you will find Marseille in the food. Le Fleurie is run by Olivier Paget, who is not from Fleurie. He liked the name.

Best market: Quai Saint-Antoine on a Sunday morning. The famous Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse is a shopping mall of high-end products, incomprehensible to a non-Lyonnais unless you are also a social anthropologist studying the Lyonnais psyche as manifest in its irrational habits of food consumption, particularly “brands.” But for dinner? The Quai.

Best place to drink in Vieux Lyon: Georges V, run by the wine impresario Georges dos Santos (his store Antic Wine supplies the good restaurants). You will find Georges at the bar. Ask him a question: like, is the food of Lyon any good? Note the time. If three hours later you’re able to leave, the next bottle is on me.

Bill Buford is the author of Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as a Kitchen Slave, Line Cook , Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany.

He lives in Lyon and is completing a book about learning how to be a French cook, provisionally titled Dirt. A film about his research, Fat Man in a White Hat, was recently broadcast on the BBC.

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“my name is Vitalie. my legacy is taittinger. my passion is champagne.”

©2009 Kobrand Corporation, New York, NY www.kobrandwineandspirits.com

– V i ta l i e ta i t t i n g e r

V i ta l i e ta i t t i n g e r i s a n a c t i V e m e m b e r o f t h e fa m i ly c h a m pa g n e h o u s e .

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limited edition D r aw i n g I n s p i r at i o n James Rosenquist

James Rosenquist has produced a limited series of 50 signed lithographs, based on the poster design.

Both the poster and the lithograph are available for sale at bocusedorusa.org or by contacting Monica Bhambhani at 646.519.7088. All proceeds will benefit Team USA, Chef James Kent and commis Tom Allan, as they prepare for the rigorous competition. Go Team USA!

Cooking is a big part of the Bocuse d’Or, but there’s another art form related to the competition that is judged and awarded prizes. Each participating team is required to submit a promotional poster representing their country. And when it came to selecting an artist for the United States, Daniel Boulud knew right away who to ask: James Rosenquist.

James Rosenquist knows how to tell tales about contemporary life using compelling visual language.

The objects in his paintings may at first glance appear random, but Rosenquist chooses each element carefully for personal meaning and connotation. It’s not unlike the way chefs use seemingly disparate ingredients to create a brand-new dish. “James has always been a friend to chefs because there is a natural artist-to-artist connection between a chef and a painter,” explains Daniel Boulud. Indeed, when Wolfgang Puck opened at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas 20 years ago, he could not afford to put Rosenquist’s art in his restaurant. Rosenquist, in a characteristically generous gesture, lent him a huge painting. Puck and Rosenquist have been friends ever since.

For the Bocuse d’Or USA print, Rosenquist conjured the image of a chef who must successfully keep several balls in the air—spices, food, and everything else—to come up with new and never-beforeexecuted dishes. “I saw the chef as a juggler, his wooden spoon the stick that keeps his three plates in the air,” explains Rosenquist. “The apple on top represents an obviously iconic American city—the ‘Big Apple.’

The flag was important to everyone involved, of course. And that was that—it’s so simple, yet very striking.

One of the design challenges was

that the poster had to be easy to see from a distance.”

The artistic connection between chef and painter extends to other mutual pursuits. Boulud and Rosenquist were introduced to each other at a Formula One race in Indianapolis through Jean Todt, the crew chief for Ferrari at the time and proud owner of several of the artist’s paintings.

They met again soon after, when Todt threw a Boulud-catered party with his infamous $50 hamburgers at Rosenquist’s studio. The pair became fast friends.

Rosenquist likes to recall the time he received a call from Boulud while in the hospital recovering from double knee replacement surgery. “When I told him I had not eaten for four days, Daniel brought gourmet lunches and dinners not only for me but for the nurses who took care of me. I received the royal treatment for the rest of my stay. And I got better quicker—it’s amazing what good food does for rehabilitation!”

Boulud chalks up his friend’s speedy recovery to something else entirely.

“I am especially impressed by James, because he lives by his convictions.”

Needless to say, Boulud is delighted with the poster. “James’s work has a sense of timelessness that is very well represented here. You will be able to look at this poster 20 or 30 years from now and it will still carry the same emblematic feeling.”

Limited Edition Lithograph and Event Poster. Poster includes names of participants.

EVENTS

Pa s t a n d P r e s e n t AUTUMN FETE, ELEVEN MADISON PARK New York City, September 26 Chef Daniel Humm and Will Guidara graciously opened their restaurant on a Sunday evening to host a fundraising dinner to support Team USA, James Kent and Tom Allan, both sous-chefs in Humm’s brigade. The evening began with a lively reception with visiting Bocuse d’Or USA Culinary Council Members Alain Sailhac and André Soltner, followed by an extraordinary dinner executed by Daniel Humm, Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, Jerome Bocuse, and their teams. Champagne and wines were selected by Henriot Inc.

Joel and Joyce Buchman with Gavin Kaysen.

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EVENTS

Pa s t a n d P r e s e n t

LABOR DAY WEEKEND IN YOUNTVILLE

DINNER OF THE DECADE

The First Lady’s Fall 2010 Kitchen Garden Harvest

Stella!

Washington, D.C., October 21

New Orleans, September 14 “It’s like a dream, a dream come true,” Stella! chef Scott Boswell said. Boswell cooked with chefs Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, and Jerome Bocuse to raise funds for the Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation and for the local Barrier Islands Reclamation and Development Society, or BIRDS. A cocktail reception was held in the beautiful Ursuline Convent Garden and the guests enjoyed dinner in the exquisite new dining room at Stella!

Thomas Keller and his teams hosted the first annual end-ofsummer celebration in Yountville, California to benefit the Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation. The festivities were launched on Friday evening with a spectacular dinner

by Bouchon in the Culinary Garden across the street from the French Laundry—the first dinner ever to be organized amidst the rows of blossoming zucchini, heirloom tomatoes, and fragrant herbs! On Saturday, Chef Keller entertained the participants with a cooking demonstration at The Culinary Institute of America’s Greystone Campus, followed by a Champagne Henriot reception on the terrace.

Other highlights of the weekend included a stellar meal at the French Laundry and a farewell Sunday brunch at Ad Hoc. To sign up for news on the 2011 Yountville celebration, contact Monica Bhambhani at monica@bocusedorusa.org.

Actor Steven Baldwin and Plaquemines Parish Sheriff Jeff Hingle were at a podium with Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, John Houghtaling, Franco Valobra, Scott Boswell, Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, and Jerome Bocuse for the announcement that the dinner raised $50,000 for the Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation and $50,000 for BIRDS.

Publisher Michael Goldman

Editor-in-Chief Pamela Jouan Design Director Jana Potashnik BAIRDesign, Inc. Managing Editor Christian Kappner

First Lady Obama sets the rules before the Garden Harvest, with Daniel Boulud, Team USA’s James Kent, and Culinary Council members Paul Liebrandt, Gavin Kaysen, and Eric Ziebold.

The Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation received an invitation to the First Lady’s Kitchen Garden Harvest on the White House’s South Lawn. The event was part of First Lady Obama’s Let’s Move program, a nationwide initiative to promote healthy food choices, improve food quality in schools, increase access to healthy and affordable food, and increase activity to prevent obesity. White House Executive Chef Chris Cumerford and Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses, along with Sam Kass, Senior Policy Adviser for Healthy Food Initiatives, have been instrumental in gaining momentum for this program.

JANUARY 19–27, 2011 Join Arlene Sailhac, founder of De Gustibus and owner and director of Food “o” Philes, and Chef Alain Sailhac, Executive Vice President and Dean Emeritus at the French Culinary Institute, for a very special weekend in Lyon.

Limited to 13 VIPs, the trip includes cultural visits, a culinary class, and numerous dining experiences, from the Lyon Bouchons to the famed three-star Paul Bocuse restaurant in Collonges.

For more information, call 212.439.1714 or e-mail grtcooks@aol.com.

Copy Editor kelly suzan waggoner Contributing Writers Kathleen Hackett Pamela Jouan Photography H. Amiard samantha appleton Barbra Austin Quentin Bacon Vincent Bloch The Chef’s Garden Fran Collin Justin Ide E. Laignel bonjwing lee J. Nalin L. Nisnevitch Nigel Parry steven rothfeld Marketing Director Katherine Payne

TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES TO LYON DURING THE BOCUSE d’OR COMPETITION FOODOPHILES VIP WEEK IN LEGENDARY LYON

Assistant Editor Stephane Henrion

CULINARY INSIDERS Join Culinary Insiders for a unique epicurean experience: a three-day all-inclusive trip to Paris and Lyon. Experience gastronomic highlights in both cities, culminating in the ultimate culinary experience, the Bocuse d’Or competition.

For more information, contact Lisa Mamounas at lisa@culinaryinsiders.com.

HauteLife Press a division of C-BON MEDIA, LLC. 321 Dean Street Suite 1 Brooklyn, NY 11217 www.hautelifepress.com info@hautelifepress.com Subscription Inquiries 718.858.1187 subscriptions@hautelifepress.com or visit www.hautelifepress.com Printed and bound in the U.S.A. HauteLife Press makes every effort to ensure that the information it publishes is correct but cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. © 2010 All rights reserved.

Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited.

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For information, bocus e dmore ’or u sa

visit www.bocusedorusa.org.

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